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Trends in temperature extremes over nine integrated agricultural regions in China, 1961–2011

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Abstract

By characterizing the patterns of temperature extremes over nine integrated agricultural regions (IARs) in China from 1961 to 2011, this study performed trend analyses on 16 extreme temperature indices using a high-resolution (0.5° × 0.5°) daily gridded dataset and the Mann-Kendall method. The results show that annually, at both daytime and nighttime, cold extremes significantly decreased but warm extremes significantly increased across all IARs. Overall, nighttimes tended to warm faster than daytimes. Diurnal temperature ranges (DTR) diminished, apart from the mid-northern Southwest China Region and the mid-Loess Plateau Region. Seasonally, DTR widely diminished across all IARs during the four seasons except for spring. Higher minimum daily minimum temperature (TNn) and maximum daily maximum temperature (TXx), in both summer and winter, were recorded for most IARs except for the Huang-Huai-Hai Region; in autumn, all IARs generally encountered higher TNn and TXx. In all seasons, warming was observed at daytime and nighttime but, again, nighttimes warmed faster than daytimes. The results also indicate a more rapid warming trend in Northern and Western China than in Southern and Eastern China, with accelerated warming at high elevations. The increases in TNn and TXx might cause a reduction in agriculture yield in spring over Northern China, while such negative impact might occur in Southern China during summer. In autumn and winter, however, the negative impact possibly occurred in most of the IARs. Moreover, increased TXx in the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta is possibly related to rapid local urbanization. Climatically, the general increase in temperature extremes across Chinese IARs may be induced by strengthened Northern Hemisphere Subtropical High or weakened Northern Hemisphere Polar Vortex.

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Acknowledgments

The research is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51209095, 51579105), the National Science and Technology Support Program (Grant No. 2012BAC21B0103), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2014ZZ0027).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, China

    Xushu Wu, Zhaoli Wang & Xiaowen Zhou

  2. Center for Water Resources and Environment Research, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Chengguang Lai & Xiaohong Chen

  3. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Water Security in Southern China of Guangdong High Education Institute, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Chengguang Lai & Xiaohong Chen

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  1. Xushu Wu
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  2. Zhaoli Wang
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Correspondence to Zhaoli Wang.

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Wu, X., Wang, Z., Zhou, X. et al. Trends in temperature extremes over nine integrated agricultural regions in China, 1961–2011. Theor Appl Climatol 129, 1279–1294 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-016-1848-0

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